Civitas members participated in a roundtable with guest presenters from Michigan Health Information Network to learn more about the political determinants of health, and how they worked with Congress in Michigan to support increased health data interoperability for the 12 tribes in the state. Here’s what we came away with:

• Data standards and producing accurate data are critically important to tribal health.
• Privacy and security are even more important when building trust.
• Trust cannot be overlooked with tribal populations and in working with tribal leaders; leaders need to know what you are doing with the data and that they still own the data.
• Having data at the point of care also helps with building trust.
• Work with tribes on specific use cases.
• In working with state representatives on tribal health, educate them about the populations they serve.
• Bring people together to problem solve, use real-life data to help people understand, and once there is shared understanding solutions will emerge.

In case you missed this event, or want to revisit the discussion, materials are now available!